Day 6: Dress for Skirt-cess

At least 4 if not 5 years ago, I bought a multicolored halter dress.  I wore it to college orientation (everyone else was in sweat pants, figures) and maybe a few other places.  It was never my favorite dress.  I have had some of my clothes for over 6 years, my Doc Martens have lasted me about 9 years, so I just never threw the dress away.

Lucky me, because now I can upcycle it.

Let me just start out by saying...I can't sew worth a darn.  I have only used a machine once in my life, so I opted to do this by hand.

WHICH I also have no clue what I am doing during.

My materials:
-This dress
-Elastic Beading cord
-Needle and Black thread
-Beads
-Scissors

So I started by cutting off the dress.  I put it on and determined about where I might want a skirt to hit me versus how I might want to do the dress.

I considered making it puckered, but there is little need to make this dress any louder than it already is.

So I stuck with a (vaguely) straight cut across the top.

Here she is once cut.  You better believe I will be figuring out something to do with the top fabric as well.

I used some "On-a-string" elastic beading cord in white and wrapped it around my waist to determine how long I wanted to cut the cord.

I was going for one that would be long enough to tie (a faux drawstring if you will) and that I could add beads to the end.

I then started sewing the cord in, rolling the fabric over the cord as I went to form a pseudo hem.

Because again, I literally have no idea what the appropriate way to do this would have been.

But the people who know the least have the most to learn.

I put my stitches really close together, because at first I did not and I ended up popping some of them when I went to try it on.

After I got the whole thing stitched (twice) I raided my bead supply to find a few that would look good with the print and colors in the skirt.

I think these two kinds do a decent job, no?


I double knotted the ends, and pulled them extremely tight.

Here is my finished product, and I think it is much more wearable now for a longer season than it was as a halter dress.  The elastic cord mechanism seems to work just fine.

My mom says there is elastic thread you can buy that would have worked out easier on this.  Who knew?  Heads up for anyone who may try this, go look for that stuff.

This skirt looks really good with a plain black shirt, and inspired me to make a large statement necklace sometime soon to go with it.  So keep your eyes on the horizon, because more shenanigans will spawn from this I am sure.


Now if only I could learn how to turn things into perfectly tailored pencil skirts...

Day 6- FREE!  Thank goodness I had such an extensive Mecca before this began.  But seriously, raid your house, there are all kinds of great things waiting to be crafted.